HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 03-12 Who invented the Post-it Note? PIONEER PRESS 3/14/2016 Main
Who invented the Post-it Note?
$400 million dispute lingers, but plaintiff in lawsuit settled earlier with 3M
By Curt Anderson
Associated Press
Alan Amron has invented a battery-powered squirt gun, a digital photo frame, even a laser system that
may someday provide a visible firstdown line for fans inside NFL stadiums. He holds 40 U.S. patents,
but he's most interested in an invention for which he gets no credit: the Post-it Note, that ubiquitous
sticky-back product made into a worldwide success by the 3M Co.
Amron, 67, says he invented what he called the Press-on Memo in 1973, a full year before 3M scientists
developed what later became known as the Post-it Note. Although Amron settled a previous lawsuit
against 3M, he's suing again in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He says the company breached its
previous agreement not to take credit. The settlement is confidential.
Now Amron wants $400 million in damages and something he says is even more important to him.
"1 just want them to admit that 1 am the inventor and that they will stop saying that they are the inventor,"
Amron said in a recent interview. "Every single day that they keep claiming they invented it damages my
reputation and defames me."
3M, based in Maplewood, is one of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones industrial average.
The maker of Scotch tape, Ace bandages, sandpaper, films, office products, window insulation, paint
remover and hundreds of other products earned more than $30 billion in revenue in 2015, according to
the company's website.
The company says Post-it Notes were invented by 3M scientists Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver, both
members of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Silver came up with the adhesive— one that could be
used over and over yet not mar surfaces to which it attached and Fry the idea of using it for the small
yellow squares of paper to become sticky-backed notes.
"3M developed Post-it Notes without any input or inspiration from Mr. Amron, and it is false and
misleading for him to state or suggest that he created, invented or had any role in the product's
development," said company spokeswoman Donna Fleming Runyon in an email.
On Friday, Runyon added that 3M was within its rights under the previous settlement to claim credit for
creating the Post-it Note.
"There was nothing in the settlement agreement that limited what 3M could say," she said.
Fry, now 84 and retired, is named as a defendant in Amron's lawsuit, but Silver is not. Fry did not
respond to an email and a phone message seeking comment. Silver also is retired, Runyon said.
Amron said his idea in 1973 came about with chewing gum. He was looking for a way to stick a note on
his refrigerator for his wife and used gum, providing inspiration for the adhesive he would use on his
Press-on Memo. That year, he took the sticky notes to a New York trade show and met briefly with two
3M executives, Amron said, but nothing came of the meeting.
Fry and Silver came up with what 3M originally called the Press `n' Peel memo pad in 1974, but it
1/2
3/14/2016 Main
wasn't brought to market until 1977 and didn't really take off until 1980, when it was renamed the Post-it
Note. It's now one of the topselling items in 3M's consumer products division, which in 2015 earned
$4.4 billion for all products, company figures show.
In 1997, Amron sued 3M claiming he was the true inventor. The case was settled, and Amron agreed to
release the company from any future claims, which intellectual property lawyers say could make his new
Florida lawsuit difficult to win.
"I would predict what he has left perhaps is the enforcement of a settlement agreement but not the claims
he is pursuing," said Miami attorney Jeffrey Feldman, who is not involved in the case. "The first thing I
would want to know is whether or not there was an agreement between them regarding who was allowed
to say what."
Amron said the agreement was that neither could claim credit, because years earlier a Swiss inventor had
supposedly devised a similar product. But that turned out to be a less-useful adhesive, not the entire
sticky note, and Amron said he believed 3M used the Swiss tale to trick him into the settlement and is
now breaching that deal by claiming credit for the product.
No trial date is set for Amron's lawsuit. Runyon said 3M will file a dismissal motion next week on an
amended version of his complaint. A federal judge has ordered both sides into mediation.
Or
r;
o f I r WON,
Alan Amnon is suing 3M Co. in a South Florida federal court in a dispute over who invented the
ubiquitous Post-it Note. ASSOCIATED PRESS: ALAN DIAZ
Sal urday,03/12/2016 Pag.A08 Copyrig_hl 0 2016,SI,Paul Pioneer Press 3/12/2016
2/2